Fragments: a Quartiles-Style Daily Word Puzzle
Fragments is a daily word puzzle in the style of Quartiles, for the browser and sized for a phone. Twenty pieces of two to four letters sit on the board, and five long words are hidden among them, each cut into four pieces. The same date always deals the same board, and a random board is there whenever you want another.
How to play
Tap pieces in order to build a word from one to four of them, laid end to end, then press PLAY. Tap a piece again to take it back, CLEAR to start over, or SHUFFLE to move the board around.
A word counts if it is in the dictionary and you have not played it already. Pieces are never used up; the same piece can go into as many words as you can find.
REVEAL shows the five hidden words and ends the board for scoring. Your words are saved in your browser as you go, so closing the tab loses nothing.
Scoring
A one-piece word scores 1 point, two pieces 2, three pieces 4 and four pieces 8. Each extra piece doubles the value, so the long words are where the points are.
The five hidden words are the quartiles, and each one is exactly four pieces. Find all five and you get a 40-point bonus on top.
100 points is Expert. The board does not end there. The list of your words shows how many the board can spell in all.
How the boards are made
Each board starts from five long words drawn from a list of 2,912, chosen so that none hides inside another and at most one is shorter than ten letters. Each word is cut into four pieces of two to four letters, mostly three.
All twenty pieces must be different, so no tile is ambiguous. The board is then solved against the full dictionary of about 168,000 words, and thrown out unless it holds at least 30 findable words and 140 possible points.
The day's board is built from the date itself, so it needs no server: the same date always builds the same board.